Documenting and exposing crimes in forests around the globe, EIA works to reform forest governance and shut down networks that trade in illicit wood products and agricultural commodities driving deforestation

Enacting and enforcing strong laws against illegal timber and timber products trade in the United States, and other key consumer markets, reduces illegal logging and supports governance reform in forest countries.

Identifying and investigating high-risk sources of timber and agricultural commodities in specific sectors leads us to their final destination, where we leverage legal mechanisms in market countries to clean up supply chains.

Objectives:

Understand and track changes in the global marketplace for logs, sawn timber, and finished wood products in order to bring focus to specific governance failures and demand side pressure causing illegal timber trade flows

Establish protection for threatened high-value tree species being rapidly depleted by profit-seekers

EIA’s new report describes important advances since 2012 in Peru’s fight against illegal logging, timber laundering, and its associated international trade – as well as the backlash against these new approaches.

Peruvian forest authorities are weakening the tools and inspections necessary to prevent illegal timber trade, in the face of overwhelming evidence that Peru’s exports to the United States, China, Mexico and 15 other countries contained high percentages of illegal or high-risk wood. Moment of Truth, a new report from the non-profit Environmental Investigation Agency, demonstrates the extent of this illegal trade and the backlash against attempts to fight it.

Impact and Results

Spurred international attention and action on the Peruvian forest sector’s rampant illegality in The Laundering Machine (2012) and supported participation of indigenous and local partners in advocacy around revised forestry laws and regulations.

Exposed for first time pervasive corruption and illegality in Honduran forests by working with local partners, generating new political will for reform of the country’s forest law.

Helped establish measures against the massive flows of illegally-logged rosewood and ebony out of Madagascar by bringing international spotlight to surging rosewood demand.

Monitored implementation of unprecedented Forest Governance Annex to reform the Peruvian forest sector in the bilateral Peru Trade Promotion Agreement with the United States.

Increased attention to the issue of illegal logging and associated trade by China’s government, acknowledging that China plays a role in the international illegal timber trade and is participating in the international dialogue to address illegal timber imports

Supported allies in local civil society, shared experiences, and advanced policy reform in Australia and Japan.

Revealed critical loopholes in EUTR regarding timber sourcing within Europe by illustrating the role of EU demand in fueling illegal logging in Romania’s forests.

Brought systematic evidence of illegal logging to the Romanian and international public, stimulating political changes to address illegal logging and corruption among the
Romanian government and powerful companies.

In-depth investigative reporting on the illegal timber trade in Russia’s “wild east” led to the central government newly focused on stopping illegal logging and related organized crime in remote eastern Russia, evidenced by a new roundwood law instituting stronger controls on tracking timber along supply chains.

Following the profile of Russian oak (Quercus mongolica) and Manchurian ash (Fraxinus mandshurica) in EIA’s report Liquidating the Forests, Russia led an effort to list these species on CITES Appendix III to combat illegal international trade in these species.